Snow Cake - A Movie Taking Place In Northern Ontario

While on the topic of Canadian films...

This Movie Is Broken is an urban film, showing events that take place in the Canadian metropolis of Toronto.

Downtown Toronto.

Downtown Toronto.

Front street in Toronto.

Downtown Montreal.

Ottawa at dawn.

Downtown Vancouver, beyond English bay.

But even though most Canadians (about 80% according to Statistics Canada) live in cities like Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and others, Canada is a large country with many rural spaces.

The Saint-Lawrence river, near the village of Kamouraska, Québec.

A farm, somewhere in southern Québec.

A covered bridge, near Gatineau in western Québec.

An old farmhouse and tractor, near Sudbury, Ontario.

Farmland near Sudbury, Ontario.

Homes by the Vale-Inco smelter, in Sudbury, Ontario.

The western prairie, in Manitoba.

The Qu'Appelle river valley, in Saskatchewan.

The western prairie, in Alberta.

The film Snow Cake, released in 2006, provides an interesting look at life in Canada's less populated regions.  Filmed in Wawa, Ontario, a picturesque town located just north of lake Superior, it is a drama about a man named Alex who picks up a young hitch-hiker as he is driving across northern Ontario to Winnipeg.  Shortly thereafter, the pair are involved in a traffic accident, and the hitch-hiker dies.  Having himself lost his own son in a car accident, Alex decides to visit the hitch-hiker's mother, Linda.  When he meets Linda, he realizes that she is autistic.  So, he decides to stay in town for a few days, until Linda's daughter's funeral.  During this time, Alex encounters many of the residents of the small northern Ontario town that is Linda's home, and he comes to terms with some dramatic events that happened in the early part of his life.

Snow Cake is a heartwarming and touching film.  I have watched it a few times, and each time, it has made me nostalgic for home.  It contains beautiful scenery of northern Ontario in the winter, and the characters in the film have personality traits and idiosyncrasies that remind me of people I know well back home.  And furthermore, its soundtrack has been produced by Broken Social Scene.

The original Wawa goose, in Wawa Ontario.

The main street in Wawa.

The Trans-Canada highway, near Wawa.

Trucks on the highway, near Wawa.

Snow Cake has both a long trailer and a short trailer.